What I'm Teaching My Daughter That My Father Taught Me
My father handed me a camera and taught me how to see. Not how to compose a shot or adjust a setting — how to actually pay attention to people.
Lately, I've noticed myself doing the same thing with my daughter, without really planning to.
It shows up in small moments. Pointing out the way light hits something at a certain time of day. Pausing mid-conversation to say "wait, look at that" when nobody else would have noticed anything worth looking at. Teaching her that the interesting part of a moment is rarely the posed one — it's the one right before or right after, when everyone forgets to perform.
I don't know if she'll ever pick up a camera the way I did. That's not really the point. What matters is that she's learning to notice — the same gift that was handed to me decades ago on a mountain road, now quietly passing to the next generation without either of us really talking about it directly.
That's what I think about now every time I'm working with a family in a session. I'm not just documenting a moment for them. I'm hoping, in some small way, I'm helping them notice each other a little more closely too — the way my father taught me, the way I'm teaching my daughter.
Photography was never really about the camera. It's about attention. And attention, it turns out, is something you can pass down.
If you're looking for a photographer who wants to help your family notice each other a little more closely, I'd love to talk.
Liked what you read? Let's create something real together.
